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Rap music. It's pretty cool, right? This is the attitude that Das Racist's Kool A.D. seems to project, at least. He's the world's least affected rap singer, and as his new mixtape 51 seems to indicate, he's beyond happy with that situation. Opening for Kool A.D. is Houston's simultaneously street savvy and zeitgeist-friendly Fat Tony, joined by the brilliant/insane Das Racist affiliate Lakutis. -Drew Millard

The XX, Jacques Greene at Terminal 5, August 2, $45

This finely-chilled U.K. trio will be previewing new songs from their upcoming album Coexist, the follow-up to their 2009 self-titled make-out party soundtrack. Put bluntly, if you bring someone to this show to whom you have feelings of a certain sort, and you still fail to close the deal, you should probably move on. -Michael Tedder

Aesop Rock at Irving Plaza, August 3, $19.50

When Aesop Rock left New York City it felt like a part of something--him, us, the city--died. Once the poet laureate of the late, great Def Jux label, the word-drunk MC weaved dizzying tapestries of life in a big apple that he deemed evil at its core. Despite his cynical rhymes, listeners always gleaned a nugget of hope from his tunes--the best way to fight evil, Rock suggested, was to stand resolute in its face. These days Rock is pushing Skelethon, his stellar new album, which may very well be his most insular, word-drunk work yet. -DM

System Of A Down, The Deftones at Jones Beach, August 5, $35

Deftones and System Of A Down both broke through during an era of rock music that we've all done our best to forgot. (Kids, ask your parents why Fred Durst was famous back in the day.) But while time has not been kind to most of the bands they broke through with (Fun Fact: P.O.D. still exist. Who knew?), both of these groups have aged well. Their blend of experimentation, aggression, absurdity (in the former's case) and sensual beauty (in the later's) have earned both the right to be compared to forebearers like Faith No More and Jane's Addiction, rather than some band with a misspelled name. -MT